Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CLXXXII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
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We ended yesterday with a new observation or, as we would rather say a new realization, from a the group of sayings that sat at the top of our essays for many days; the Master’s words to Nicodemus on being born again. We came to this saying again as we discussed the many equal ways that the Master tells us of regarding attaining the Kingdom of God; equal from our perspective which is that to accomplish any one of them is to actually accomplish them ALL and on this theme we spent many days recently. In all the time that we looked at this however we did not center in on our word from yesterday, see, as we find it in the King James Version (KJV) as the translation for the Greek word eido in the saying by Jesus to Nicodemus that: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Now virtually every bible translation does render this Greek word as see and we posted a doctrinal idea of how it is interpreted from Vincent in the last post which says in part The things of God’s kingdom are not apparent to the natural vision. A new power of sight is required, which attaches only to the new man 4. However, from the very definitions of this word from Strong’s and the Greek Lexicon we also gathered these ideas that help us to understand this saying from our perspective that the Kingdom is here and now and that it is, as the Master tells us, within us ALL. From the lexicon we took to experience any state or condition; to know and perceive 2 and from Strong’s to know, recognize and, one of our favorites as it concerns the Kingdom, realize 3. We can easily build here a bridge between the words that we have extracted from the definitions given and the saying of the Master that “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21) which is a saying that is not nearly understood by the doctrines which yet maintain that the Kingdom is the reward of man for a ‘good’ life after his death on this Earth.
So then in our view here, the Kingdom can be KNOWN, it can be perceived and it can experienced as a state or condition….it can be realized, and this is when a man is born again. This is our understanding and this is here confirmed by the right discernment of the idea offered by the Greek word rendered as see in our saying where the Master relates being born again with our ability to “see the kingdom of God“. In our understanding of the equality of the Master’s sayings on attaining the Kingdom, we KNOW that this being born again is accomplished by keeping His words or, as we read in His words, by doing “the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). This IS being born again and this is the meaning thereof. And so we continue with our theme from the last post, the Way to the Kingdom according to the Master and in this again we will see the reality of discipleship hidden in the mix of the words of the Master but, most importantly we should try to see and to recognize the totality of the commitment necessary for this High Calling and what it Truly means.
From our perspective the attainment of the Kingdom of God is the personal act of being “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21); this is our goal and our destiny. This liberty IS freedom from the cycle of birth and death on the Earth which is accomplished only in the reality of the Master’s criteria. As we oft discuss, the Master’s criteria for the Kingdom can all be rolled up together and seen to mean the same thing as we painted this recently by using a mathematical formula that says that if A is equal to B and B is equal to C, then A and B and C are all equal. From this then if being born again can gain the Kingdom, and doing the Will of the Father will gain the Kingdom and righteousness will gain the Kingdom, then these are ALL equal and, being equal they are the same. Looking at the Master’s words that lead us here we find:
- First our saying from above combined with the succeeding words where the Master first tells us that we cannot KNOW the Kingdom without being born again and this then leads into saying that unless a man “be born of water and of the Spirit” that we cannot enter. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5). We should stop here and again examine the words that are being used; as we did in the last post and above, the idea of see can and does take on a greater meaning from our perspective when we understand it as KNOW and realize, so here in the last part of this we can gain additional insight through the word enter. While Vincent sees this much like he sees the idea of see saying that: Enter into. This more than see (ver. 3). It is to become partaker of; to go in and possess, as the Israelites did Canaan 4, the lexicon gives us some of metaphoric ideas for the use of the Greek word eserchomai saying that it can mean of entrance into any condition, state of things, society, employment; to arise, come into existence, begin to be; of men, to come before the public; to come into life; of thoughts that come into the mind 2. These ideas play well with our understanding of see being the KNOWING of the Kingdom and the realization of it and takes us away from the common and doctrinal understanding that there is a place that one need go to and enter. The relevance of water and Spirit is covered in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 564.
- “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…….For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5;10, 20). In these two sayings from the Sermon on the Mount we find the ideas of righteousness linked to one’s attainment of the Kingdom; in the one the idea is that it belongs to the righteous as opposed to those that are persecuted and this is of course a Truth as we understand the True meaning of righteous. Perhaps there is some relevance in that day to the righteous being persecuted but for us persecution is not the subject, it is rather the fact that one IS righteous which we should take to mean: the condition acceptable to God; the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God; integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting according to the lexicon 2. It is in these thoughts that we find the quality of the man accounted worthy of the Kingdom and not in the common understanding of the word or even in the understanding that the Master perceives is held by the Pharisee of whom Jesus tells us that we must be more righteous in order to enter the Kingdom and the idea of enter here should be seen as above. The lexicon gives additional meanings stated as a broad and a narrow sense which are generally either spiritually motivated or secular and similar ideas are set forth in Strong’s where we read of the Greek word dikaiosune that it means righteousness, what is right, justice, the act of doing what is in agreement with God’s standards, the stat of being in proper relationship with God 3. Here we see that combination of the secular and the spiritual while in the modern dictionary we only find the secular meanings 1. of characterized by uprightness or morality; a righteous observance of the law. 2. morally right or justifiable; righteous indignation. 3. acting in a uprith, moral way; virtuous 7, and none of these should be seen as righteousness as it is used by the Master nor as which can afford one the attainment of the High Calling of the Kingdom of God. We should understand here that the righteousness that the Master speaks of in relation to the Kingdom of God is the same as He tells us of in saying that we should “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:20) and here we should see that the True righteousness is of God, of the Soul and of the Christ Within.
- Most importantly we have the saying by the Master regarding the straightforward reality of attaining the Kingdom as He tells us “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Nothing that the Master says to us can be clearer and we should note here that the idea of enter is used again and in our understanding we should see that if one keeps His words which are the Will of the Father, that one can and will become partaker of the Kingdom as Vincent suggests above or one can and will gain entrance into any condition and here that would be the state of realization of the Kingdom of God.
In these three points above we have three ways to the Kingdom which are, in our premise, equal and the same. If one is Truly righteous then he is at the same time doing the Will of the Father and IS born again. At the same time if one is doing the Will of the Father he is per force righteous and born again and, of course, if one IS born again he IS righteous and doing the Will of the Father. We have looked at these today in a fresh way with our new understanding of see and enter as well as other nuances that we have added to our thoughts and we should note that in this equality we must add the reality of the other Ways to the Kingdom that the Master tells us of:
- “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3) which is otherwise worded as “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). These are not clearly understood by doctrine and here we repeat again a portion of our ideas from earlier which can be found complete in In the Words of Jesus parts 10 and 565: He is telling them that they are Blessed who give up all for the Kingdom; who sacrifice the pleasures and the treasures of this earthly life to dwell in the Presence of God. He is saying, as He repeats later, That in giving up the things of the world you will gain the things of God. In our understanding these sayings tie themselves to the Master’s words on forsaking ALL and we highlight this with His words to the rich young man who is told “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” and here we should combine this thought of treasure in heaven with the Master’s next words saying: “Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:21, 23). Can we see the relationship between forsaking ALL and the Kingdom and can we see how this comes into play in the subject sayings on being poor?
- In the saying above there is the added ideal of being perfect and this perfection is also intimately tied to one’s being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God as we recently discussed. The rich young man is told that to be perfect and to attain the Kingdom and its treasures that he must forsake his worldly ties and the Master also admonishes us to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) which saying He uses to close out His discourse to His disciples and those gathered on the things to do for righteousness which we see as the same as the attainment of the Kingdom. We should try to see here that from the saying cited above on the righteousness of the Pharisee to the ending statement on being perfect that the Master goes through a series of thoughts stating first with the way it is seen in Jewry and by the Pharisee, and then the way that it IS TO BE SEEN in the greater righteousness of a disciple and one accounted worthy of the Kingdom. Jesus covers killing versus anger, adultery versus lust and hate versus Love among other ideas. This is an important point in our proper understanding of the Master’s words and His intent. Based upon these ideas we have added this idea of being perfect to our list of Ways to the Kingdom and we discussed this as such in IN the Words of Jesus parts 567-568 and we consider this perfection synonymous with the other ideas in our equation above even in the absence of a direct statement relating being perfect and the Kingdom.
- Finally we come to these sayings which tell us of the nature of one who is accounted worthy and there is no clear definition of what exactly this means: “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted , and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3) and again as “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). We cover these ideas in much detail in In the Words of Jesus part 571 and summarizing this we can only see that the idea of little children must remain a fluid understanding of the child in his time before he becomes subjected to the attitudes of the self and of selfishness in this world; a time where his motives are still pure and there is an innocence and a trusting about him that can be related to our other points on being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God.
Thus we have covered again those teachings by the Master that tell us of how to enter the Kingdom and we brought in some new ideas on seeing and entering that can serve us well in our understanding of the reality of His words. In the next post we will take these ideas and merge them with our understanding of discipleship as in our view there is an intimate relationship and a sameness to these two ideas. In closing we should remember that much of the Master’s words are intentionally unclear, spoken as parables and as proverbs, and that it is up to us to discern the reality and His intent.
We continue to leave the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day and hope that many will read it daily along with the comments so as to form some working KNOWLEDGE of the intent of this world prayer, part of which is directly applicable to our discussion above on attaining the Kingdom of God.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God | Potency | Expressed as Fire | Aspect of Man | In Relation to the Christ |
| GOD, The Father | Will or Power | Electric Fire | Spirit or Life | Life |
| Son, The Christ | Love and Wisdom | Solar Fire | Soul or Christ Within | Truth |
| Holy Spirit | Light or Activity | Fire by Friction | Life Within the Form | Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 3 Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 7 Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
